Responsible Involvement for School Efficiency (RISE) committee members stand during the El Rancho Unified School District Board Meeting at Pico Rivera City Hall in Pico Rivera, Calif. on Tuesday June 19, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

While most attending El Rancho Unified’s school board meeting this week wanted to discuss how the district is handling its ethnic studies program, a certain cohort was there to discuss a considerably less splashy issue: bond oversight.

Though the topic itself may ignite less fury than fears of racial supremacist ideology creeping into the classroom, the group was nonetheless passionate about its own cause. The crew, comprising Pico Rivera residents who banded together under the name RISE (short for “The Committee for Responsible Involvement for School Efficiency”), called on the district to be more transparent about how it manages more than $300 million spread across three bond programs.

Along with demands for the district to take several steps to improve oversight, the faction made one striking request: for the district to immediately halt the demolition of El Rancho High School until the other demands are met.

Board President Aurora Villon said the board is not considering that particular ask during a Thursday phone interview.

“We have already moved those classrooms out, and that’s something that needs to happen,” Villon said. “It’s not even a topic of conversation for the board.”

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The demolition is scheduled to be completed this summer. It will be the first step to completing a new, modernized high school to be built in phases. Pico Rivera approved the $200 million Measure ER for a new high school in 2016.

As for the group’s other requests, Villon said she welcomes community input and agrees the process should be more transparent.

“Our community is expecting to have a new high school, and we want to be able to honor that,” she said. “We have to be true to what we told our community, but it’s always a positive when there are community members and staff members who want to be involved in the process.”

Other demands focused on a lack of dedicated staff personnel, as well as an insufficiently sized citizens’ oversight committee.

During Tuesday’s meeting, district computer system specialist Tony Hernandez told the board, “There is no district employee overseeing the bond, and we need to make sure we have that.”

He added, “It’s a very intense issue. It’s not just something that’s going to be handled by (the chief business officer). You need someone dedicated to this.”

Lilia Carreon, a representative for the teachers union, also asked for the board’s cooperation on the issue.

“We’re not saying don’t fix El Rancho High School,” Carreon said. “We’re asking you to put the proper people in place, who can make the right decisions for the community.”

Board Vice President Gabriel Orosco said during Tuesday’s meeting he was also open to more accountability, although he took issue with the specific language the group used.

“I don’t like the word ‘oversight’ so much as ‘discussion of the bond’s processes and procedures,’” he said. “I just think that that’s a better way of phrasing it. I understand there are a lot of concerns, but that doesn’t mean that we’re doing anything wrong, per se, and I don’t want that to be the assumption.”

Orosco added, “But I do agree that we need to have a joint discussion with (the citizens’ oversight committee) and any stakeholder that wishes to show up.”

Hayley Munguia covers Long Beach City Hall for the Southern California News Group. She previously worked as a data reporter for FiveThirtyEight and has written for The Week, the Jerusalem Post and the Austin American-Statesman, among other publications. She's originally from Austin, graduated from NYU and will pet a dog any chance she gets.